Ever since landfills were created, their existence has caused sustainability problems. Most people will turn a blind eye and forget about it. After all, once you've thrown away a plastic bottle, that plastic bottle ceases to exist in your immediate environment thereby creating the illusion that it's gone forever. This "out of sight out of mind" tactic for dealing with waste cannot possibly work as a long-term solution, we need to find new ways of dealing with waste.
The Facts about Landfills
251 Million tons (228 million metric tons) of trash, or solid waste, are generated in the US in 2006.
Of the total solid waste generated in the US in 2006, 32.5% was either recycled or composted, 12.5% was burned and 54.3% was buried in landfills.
In the UK, about 90% of waste ends up in landfills
According to the EPA, the average American produces about 4.4 pounds (2 kg) of garbage a day, or a total of 29 pounds (13 kg) per week and 1,600 pounds (726 kg) a year.
the LLSI stated that "...82% of surveyed landfill cells had leaks while 41% had a leak area of more than 1 square feet"
The mere existence of landfills is a sustainability problem. Early landfills were put in convenient locations on the least expensive land. The average consumer in the US doesn't ever stop to imagine what will happen to a product after it has been thrown away. By burying our waste, we assume that we have buried the problem.
In our natural environment, materials and resources are constantly reused in an infinite series of continuous closed cycles. There is no such thing as "waste" in the natural world. "Waste" is an artificial creation made by humans which refers to products that we have no more use for. Instead of using the decomposition cycles that exist in nature, we have created an unsustainable linear model: Resources are extracted from our environment and turned get manufactured into products. These products are used and consumed by people and then the majority of these products end up in landfills where the materials are lost forever. This linear system will undoubtedly and inevitably end when all our resources are left in landfills.
Fortunately, there are plenty of resources still in the ground, and so we will have plenty of time before we actually deplete all of our resources (although the environmental cost of acquiring these resources will get higher and higher). In the meantime, all of the landfills, especially the older ones, are leaking a toxic liquid known as "leachate" which can contain organic compounds such as methylene chloride, dichloroethylene, toluene, phenols, and benzene, or the non-organic compounds such as ammonia, heavy metals and endocrine disrupting chemicals. Concerned Citizens: Leaking Landfills?
The EPA paid a series of engineers to figure out the best way to make a landfill. They were mostly focused on looking at the liner, which is the barrier between the landfill and the rest of the environment. Currently, the two best available liners are either compacted clay liners or composite soil liners. Unfortunately, both liners turned out to be extremely bad at preventing leakage. This was the case for both the clay liners:
"Their [Geoservices] calculations show that, with 3 inches of water standing on the bottom liner, it will take 15 years for leakage to break through a 3-foot-thick compacted clay bottom liner, but once breakthrough has occurred, 90 gallons per acre per day will pass through the liner continuously thereafter. (See pg. 3-16, and Table 3-3 on pg. 3-40.) It won't take very long to contaminate a large drinking water supply if you pour 90 to 900 gallons of toxics into it day after day, year after year. Thus Geoservices has shown that clay liners are an environmental disaster."
And this was also the case for composite liners:
"They conclude (pg. B-41) that the "best demonstrated available technology" (BDAT) for composite landfills liners will allow leakage rates somewhere between 0.02 and 1.0 gallons per acre per day. (See Table B-10 on pg. B-51.) Thus they conclude that a 10-acre landfill will have a leak rate somewhere between 0.2 and 10 gallons per day, or between 73 and 3650 gallons of fluid per year; over 10 years, such a landfill will allow the leaking of 730 to 36,500 gallons of fluid. And this is the "best demonstrated available technology"--the very best we can do when everything goes right." Analyzing Why All Landfills Leak
Multiple studies have been conducted involving the possibility of leaky landfills and the conclusion is always the same: Landfill leaks are inevitable, and even the modern HDPE plastic liners are only capable of limiting, but not preventing the leachate from escaping the landfills. Furthermore, due to the presence of dangerous chemicals in modern consumer products, the leachate produced by a municipal landfill (which takes household waste) is comparable to leachate of a hazardous waste dump. What this leaves us with is that all landfills are currently emitting dangerous toxic waste at alarming rates into the ground and the water. Since landfills are typically built next to the water, this means that a lot of water will be contaminated by toxic leachate seeping out of landfills. Zero Waste America: Landfills
The Solution?
Just ask the county of Oyster Virginia how they dealt with the problem after a landfill started leaking toxic materials into their creek:
"The county is taking a wait-and-see approach in dealing with its leaking landfill, not sure the seepage is worth spending an estimated $1 million to rectify - money the locality would have a hard time raising in the first place. "We feel it will dissipate," Katie Nunez, the county administrator, said when asked about potential pollution. "The best course at this point, really, is to take no action." " Toxic chemicals from landfills seep into creek near Oyster
Unfortunately, identifying and finding these leaks ahead of time is extremely difficult (especially when landfills are next to water, and most of them are). But even if we could find these leaks, it is insufficient to deal with the leaks themselves. What we need to do is drastically re-think how we dispose of waste. Landfills are simply not a sustainable solution and therefore should not be used for disposing of waste ever again. We need to shift away from our linear model and start using continuous closed cycles - just as they otherwise would exist in nature. We need to look at composting as the primary method of food waste disposal. Recycling should be used for most materials, and products should be designed with the intent of being recycled rather than thrown out. By going through all of our trash and finding a sustainable method for re-using, fixing, composting, recycling all of our waste, we could eliminate the need for landfills entirely.
In the meantime, we could all learn a lesson from the Swiss, who manage to recycle 76% of their waste. The government has set up a series of incentives which make it more financially viable to recycle as much as possible. Citizens must pay a specific surcharge whenever they wish to dispose of waste, making it more economic to recycle their trash. This demonstrates just how government policies can make a big difference in the amount of waste generated. Recycling our way to sustainable waste management
"LANDFILLS." Zero Waste America Is a Non-profit Environmental Organization That Promotes Zero Waste and Provides Information and Analysis on Related Matters. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://www.zerowasteamerica.org/Landfills.htm>.
Where products go to die
Intro
Ever since landfills were created, their existence has caused sustainability problems. Most people will turn a blind eye and forget about it. After all, once you've thrown away a plastic bottle, that plastic bottle ceases to exist in your immediate environment thereby creating the illusion that it's gone forever. This "out of sight out of mind" tactic for dealing with waste cannot possibly work as a long-term solution, we need to find new ways of dealing with waste.The Facts about Landfills
How Landfills Work
The Problem
The mere existence of landfills is a sustainability problem. Early landfills were put in convenient locations on the least expensive land. The average consumer in the US doesn't ever stop to imagine what will happen to a product after it has been thrown away. By burying our waste, we assume that we have buried the problem.In our natural environment, materials and resources are constantly reused in an infinite series of continuous closed cycles. There is no such thing as "waste" in the natural world. "Waste" is an artificial creation made by humans which refers to products that we have no more use for. Instead of using the decomposition cycles that exist in nature, we have created an unsustainable linear model: Resources are extracted from our environment and turned get manufactured into products. These products are used and consumed by people and then the majority of these products end up in landfills where the materials are lost forever. This linear system will undoubtedly and inevitably end when all our resources are left in landfills.
Fortunately, there are plenty of resources still in the ground, and so we will have plenty of time before we actually deplete all of our resources (although the environmental cost of acquiring these resources will get higher and higher). In the meantime, all of the landfills, especially the older ones, are leaking a toxic liquid known as "leachate" which can contain organic compounds such as methylene chloride, dichloroethylene, toluene, phenols, and benzene, or the non-organic compounds such as ammonia, heavy metals and endocrine disrupting chemicals.
Concerned Citizens: Leaking Landfills?
The EPA paid a series of engineers to figure out the best way to make a landfill. They were mostly focused on looking at the liner, which is the barrier between the landfill and the rest of the environment. Currently, the two best available liners are either compacted clay liners or composite soil liners. Unfortunately, both liners turned out to be extremely bad at preventing leakage. This was the case for both the clay liners:
"Their [Geoservices] calculations show that, with 3 inches of water standing on the bottom liner, it will take 15 years for leakage to break through a 3-foot-thick compacted clay bottom liner, but once breakthrough has occurred, 90 gallons per acre per day will pass through the liner continuously thereafter. (See pg. 3-16, and Table 3-3 on pg. 3-40.) It won't take very long to contaminate a large drinking water supply if you pour 90 to 900 gallons of toxics into it day after day, year after year. Thus Geoservices has shown that clay liners are an environmental disaster."
And this was also the case for composite liners:
"They conclude (pg. B-41) that the "best demonstrated available technology" (BDAT) for composite landfills liners will allow leakage rates somewhere between 0.02 and 1.0 gallons per acre per day. (See Table B-10 on pg. B-51.) Thus they conclude that a 10-acre landfill will have a leak rate somewhere between 0.2 and 10 gallons per day, or between 73 and 3650 gallons of fluid per year; over 10 years, such a landfill will allow the leaking of 730 to 36,500 gallons of fluid. And this is the "best demonstrated available technology"--the very best we can do when everything goes right."
Analyzing Why All Landfills Leak
Multiple studies have been conducted involving the possibility of leaky landfills and the conclusion is always the same: Landfill leaks are inevitable, and even the modern HDPE plastic liners are only capable of limiting, but not preventing the leachate from escaping the landfills. Furthermore, due to the presence of dangerous chemicals in modern consumer products, the leachate produced by a municipal landfill (which takes household waste) is comparable to leachate of a hazardous waste dump. What this leaves us with is that all landfills are currently emitting dangerous toxic waste at alarming rates into the ground and the water. Since landfills are typically built next to the water, this means that a lot of water will be contaminated by toxic leachate seeping out of landfills.
Zero Waste America: Landfills
The Solution?
Just ask the county of Oyster Virginia how they dealt with the problem after a landfill started leaking toxic materials into their creek:
"The county is taking a wait-and-see approach in dealing with its leaking landfill, not sure the seepage is worth spending an estimated $1 million to rectify - money the locality would have a hard time raising in the first place.
"We feel it will dissipate," Katie Nunez, the county administrator, said when asked about potential pollution. "The best course at this point, really, is to take no action." "
Toxic chemicals from landfills seep into creek near Oyster
Unfortunately, identifying and finding these leaks ahead of time is extremely difficult (especially when landfills are next to water, and most of them are). But even if we could find these leaks, it is insufficient to deal with the leaks themselves. What we need to do is drastically re-think how we dispose of waste. Landfills are simply not a sustainable solution and therefore should not be used for disposing of waste ever again. We need to shift away from our linear model and start using continuous closed cycles - just as they otherwise would exist in nature. We need to look at composting as the primary method of food waste disposal. Recycling should be used for most materials, and products should be designed with the intent of being recycled rather than thrown out. By going through all of our trash and finding a sustainable method for re-using, fixing, composting, recycling all of our waste, we could eliminate the need for landfills entirely.
In the meantime, we could all learn a lesson from the Swiss, who manage to recycle 76% of their waste. The government has set up a series of incentives which make it more financially viable to recycle as much as possible. Citizens must pay a specific surcharge whenever they wish to dispose of waste, making it more economic to recycle their trash. This demonstrates just how government policies can make a big difference in the amount of waste generated.
Recycling our way to sustainable waste management
Bibliography
Brennan, Deborah S. "EXCLUSIVE: Seven Former North County Landfills Leaking Contaminants." North County Times - Californian. 5 Mar. 2011. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_e6f8dde5-da4c-54fc-b8ee-fe358795ea8c.html>.Freudenrich, Craig. "HowStuffWorks "How Landfills Work"" HowStuffWorks "Science" Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/landfill.htm>.
Harper, Scott. "Toxic Chemicals from Landfills Seep into Creek near Oyster." HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com. The Virginian-Pilot, 03 Oct. 2008. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/toxic-chemicals-landfills-seep-creek-near-oyster>.
"LANDFILLS." Zero Waste America Is a Non-profit Environmental Organization That Promotes Zero Waste and Provides Information and Analysis on Related Matters. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://www.zerowasteamerica.org/Landfills.htm>.
"Municipal Solid Waste | Wastes | US EPA." US Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm>.
"RACHEL's Hazardous Waste News #116." EJnet.org: Web Resources for Environmental Justice Activists. Environmental Research Foundation, 14 Feb. 1989. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://www.ejnet.org/rachel/rhwn116.htm>.
"Do Landfills Leak?" CCCC - Rural NY Environment Watchdogs. 06 Aug. 2008. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. <http://concernedcitizens.homestead.com/faq20.html>.